ART with ELDERS

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Saging Visions

By Aneesha Parrone

2022 Exhibition by Artists of The Meadows

Moments and days billow into decades stepping into another decennium until we finally are hailed into our Saging years. We have Visions.]: Art born of dancing joys, tearful separations. We have been living and breathing moments that have begun to sparkle with the patina of nebulosity: a story, proclamation, certificate of our wisdom. We are stepping into decades and decades, collectively into centuries or more of tenderness, ecstatic and sublime. We are Satvah, Granny, Máthair Mhór, Nana, Yaya, Grand Mere, Me`me`, Babushka, Daadee Ma, Shinálí Asdzą́ą́, Abuela, Shimá Sání, Nonna, Oma, Bobe. Some with children, some without, we are saging crones with a vision of great Goodness to share. Even still, we are discovering the bountiful sparks of our Beauty.

We are not the label of agism that presumptively smiles at our quaintness. We are not the label of a crooked impression regarded as dotty senility. Our wrinkles are the furrows of wisdom-life, well lived. We are connecting each day...Do you see? Do you hear? Do you receive the gracious envelopment of our perfumed radiance?

• We are Dignified Eminence. And we say Thank You~

• We are the Wood and Flute within which flows the Breath Song, and we sing Thank You~[

• We are branches bending and flowing in the wind of The Dance and we waltz a tangoed Thank You

• We invite you to listen~ And we share Thank You ~

We are not the faded photographs of memory in a scrapbook. We breath. We live and have lived within the parallax of age. We are the gift of the Eleventh Hour to you who are at the crossroads, you who are on the summer harvest trek, you who are on the springtime path. We offer our hands and visions as we blossom into our Crone-Sagacity and embrace all of humanity. Singing the audacity of who we are, we are at a new beauty-phase of discovery. Aging is something we have experienced every day since birth and for each person, it is a different palette of color, humming memory whispering through the pines. No longer are we catering to expectations of others. As poets and troubadours, we sing and change on ever-undulating tides: “You, dear ones, are perfect just as you are ~ flawless in the broken imperfections.” We have been, and still are, charming and sexy, seductive. In our sensuality we bless everyone we meet. We are passionate in the YES … and the no. As the lightened essence of light, we invite: All Are Welcome in this Place! Join our celebration….

Prisms of Color: Memoirs of Saging

When I’m an old lady, I shall wear the color of a compassionate heart. I shall glisten and illuminate; I will be a creative beacon to light the path of generations to come.

Carl Jung once wrote, “I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become.” This characteristic attitude shines through the vitality of the staff at The Meadows. Apart from a 2-year Covid hiatus, I have been facilitating a Felting and Fibers class at this Boulder residential facility for over 10 years. My focus currently, is with individuals in Assisted Living and Memory Care. Team effort is a cornerstone for the support we provide.  Allowing spacious love to become the bedrock foundation of the service and care we offer, yields richness.

“Why are we coming here? We’re going to do what? I’ve never done that. I don’t want to come; I just want to go back to my room.” The tables have been set with the tools of our first felting class: needles, foam cushions, colors of wool. Art books for inspiration, examples from past students are presented. Snippets of mumbles cover the floor and fill the air. As facilitators, there are no judgements. We invite, encourage and support whatever is arising.

Chairs are adjusted. Walkers are put to the side. I give a short demonstration and caregivers scurry to get people started. No resistance.  All hurriedness subsides and calm reigns over our newly inducted artists into the world of felting and fibers.  Some just want to watch. Everything is acceptable. All are appreciated in whatever way works for them. While art examples are given for inspiration, a reference point of sorts, most of the participants interpret in a personal fashion and dive right into the colors.

We celebrate unique creations. Yes. We are all breathing in an atmosphere where all are recognized as the elegant sketches of generosity.

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